Game: Victory Boxing: Championship Edition
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: JVC Digital Studios
Release Date: 1996
JVC are best known for making consumer electronics, but also dipped their feet into the gaming market between 1990 and 2001. From the outset, the Japanese influence in this game is felt heavily with a jazzy muzak accompaniment to its menus and the circle button used to confirm rather than X. There's also the classic Japanese gaming trope of there being far too much text before anything actually happens; the gym and character creation, and the promoter's opening speech mean that it's at least 5 minutes before players even get to fight - in a boxing video game.
That said, as soon as players begin to fight they'll wish that there were more menus and speech of any kind. The controls are so unresponsive that I had to check whether my controller was properly plugged in. Firstly the boxer's movement is controlled with tank controls; the boxer will move in the direction they're facing when up is pressed, regardless of ring position. This isn't easy to get used to and my usual style of dodging back and forth to avoid blows in boxing games is impossible here.
In addition to this button presses take forever to take effect; punches and movement can take as much as 3-5 seconds to actually happen onscreen after a button press, dependant on a boxer's 'speed' rating. This is absolutely infuriating as AI opponents seem to have no such trouble and make light work of flooring your fighter repeatedly. There's 3 bars in the middle of the screen which represent damage, punching power and something beginning with O, but the controls render the game basically unplayable and so there's not much point taking any notice of them.
Graphically the boxers in the game look like drawing mannequins whose poses can be changed to illustrate different body positions. The animation is generally poor with the knockdown animation being one of the most ridiculous I've ever seen in any fighting game, as the injured boxer slumps onto their face almost instantly as they're hit. The music of the game is weird; with jazzy music accompanying the fight, featuring repeated voice clips like "Don't lose your power!".
Overall Victory Boxing: Championship Edition is as close as you'll ever get to a Japanese budget Playstation boxing game without D3 Publisher or Midas Interactive being involved. It's obvious that the game was made early on in the lifespan on the console by developers who had little idea of what makes a boxing game fun or even playable.
Rating: 11/100
Grade: F
Game: Prince Naseem Boxing
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Codemasters
Release Date: 23rd October 2000
At a time when the Playstation 2's release was barely a month away, Codemasters saw it fit to release Prince Naseem Boxing for the Playstation. The game was called Mike Tyson Boxing in America, but other than this everything seems to be the same. Players can compete as any of the 16 featured "champions", none of who seem to exist in real life besides Prince Naseem himself, as well as 12 other fictional fighters. On the back of the box, the game claims to have 106 fighters in total, though I have no clue where the remaining 78 are hiding.
One of the main modes is simply titled World; a career mode of sorts where players climb the ranks, set their training regimen and use the calendar to determine what actions to take. The other main mode is Showcase, a knockout tournament between the 16 world champions, without any weight classes to decide who is best (spoilers: it's the heavyweights because they land the hardest shots).
Fights are interesting in that the controls provide two buttons for punches on the right hand side, and two for the left. On the whole if players can hit on the correct side and move around a little, winning should be inevitable, especially if many punches are thrown without a chance for the opponent to respond. It doesn't feel particularly bad, but would probably become somewhat boring with repeated fights.
There's a choice of viewpoints, though none of them are exactly what I'd have chosen, given free reign over the camera. The fighters are fairly unremarkable in their graphical quality; nothing close to Playstation 2 standards, but not too bad for the Playstation. The crowd and backgrounds however are fairly clearly 2D images stretched to look a little 3D, which is a little disappointing.
Overall Prince Naseem Boxing is a fairly average boxing game with a lack of licensed fighters and so a fairly boring experience. Bouts are too easy once players work out the best strategy for the game, and Showcase mode is hardly worth playing at all. The World mode can provide some replayability but there's only basic slider interaction and negotiations besides fighting.
Rating: 59/100
Grade: D
Game: Rocky
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Rage Software
Release Date: 18th November 2002
Although licensed games don't usually live up to their hype, there was always a chance that a game based on the Rocky franchise would be better than most of the licensed games pushed out based on things that are more difficult to make a game out of. With a wide roster of fighters to unlock, a movie mode which follows the chronology of fights in the Rocky movies and exhibition and tournament modes to make your own matchups with Rocky movie characters.
The controls are fairly simple and easy to remember, with two buttons assigned to high punches, two to low punches and modifiers to pull off hooks and uppercuts. L1 is used to dodge out of harm's way, and movement is a little slow but not too frustrating. Fights require a degree of strategy to beat, but usually cornering the opponent before unloading a flurry of punches will help the chances of winning a round. It's not often that players will be able to score a KO in the first couple of rounds as time moves very quickly, but this is more realistic. The training minigames in movie mode provide a little variety, and prove to be a fairly easy way of levelling Rocky up without too much effort.
Graphically there's some resemblance to characters from the Rocky films; even those who aren't well versed in the franchise should recognise Apollo Creed, and Clubber Lang. The sound is a mixed bag with some good voice acting, and some that isn't so good. There's some music from the films but I didn't hear Eye of the Tiger anywhere which was somewhat disappointing. It's a shame the only real sense of achievement in the game comes from Movie mode.
Overall Rocky isn't a particularly good boxing game; there's a lot of getting caught up in a tangle with an opponent, or the opponent almost running away when you're winning, but with the addition of character from the Rocky series of films, it's not that bad for a licensed game, and certainly bearable if you're a casual fan of the films.
Rating: 60/100
Grade: D
Game: Boxing Champions
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Tamsoft
Release Date: 7th November 2003
Boxing Champions is part of the Simple Series; originally titled The Boxing: Real Fist Fight. It's a horrifically simple boxing game where players can compete in a tournament, head-to-head fight, or survival mode. All of which are essentially the same, save for what happens at the end of a fight; in survival and tournament mode, there's more fights to beat in order to clear the mode whereas head-to-head is simply a single 2 player fight. While the game doesn't look too bad when booted up, and the controls are fairly competent for a boxing game, it all falls apart when players begin to fight. There's no point in trying anything but the super punches, as they do huge amounts of damage and guarantee every fight to end in the first round. Boxers lock to their opponent, but there's a delay in turning to face them after the punching animation so it's possible to punch an opponent in the back of the head with enough button spamming.
The AI is super easy for the first few fights of any given mode, literally walking into your punches and going down in very few hits. After the third or fourth fight, something changes and it's suddenly almost impossible to win amidst a barrage of punches from the AI, and nearly all player shots are mysteriously blocked. The selection of boxers is pretty poor, and while not having licensed fighters is acceptable, they should at least be interesting if you're going to feature original characters. Movement around the ring is slow and every punch thrown has a long animation which means there's no quickfire element to the strategy of fights.
Graphically the game shows some promise with it's modelling of the boxer's bodies which look fairly competently made. Their faces however seem to be moulded from wax with very little expression or human features. Strangely the developers seem to have chosen rock music to accompany the otherwise silent bouts, save for grunts and hit sound effects. It's an odd atmosphere, and not one that I can say I like.
Overall Boxing Champions shows an overwhelming lack of effort in game design and programming with three main modes which are basically the same, a poor selection of fighters and an even less enjoyable fighting engine and AI coding. The fact that it's possible to completely circle your opponent and begin punching the back of their head before either boxer self rights is proof that no-one tested the game and it should definitely be avoided.
Rating: 30/100
Grade: E
Game: Rocky Legends
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Venom Games
Release Date: 28th September 2004
Rocky Legends is clearly based on the Rocky game a little further up this review, released in 2002. There are some changes, but the overall feel and gameplay issues remain. The main mode features a climb up the rankings with the next 2 or 3 fighters available to challenge (though why anyone wouldn't go for the highest available is beyond me), until Rocky Balboa himself is available to fight. There's the option to train inbetween fights to improve stats, which has some effect on the player's performance within them.
Both players have a health bar and a stamina bar which refill over time when they aren't being hit or throwing punches respectively. The health bar refills far too quickly, and the stamina bar too slowly, as without a constant barrage of punches there's almost no chance of knocking an opponent out, but stamina ends up drained halfway through an opponent's health bar. Any attempt at strategically counter-attacking is trumped by the refilling health bar and it's far easier to simply keep launching the same attack over and over until the opponent falls down. Using just the body blow punch and uppercut button I easily saw my way through to the final fight of career mode.
Besides the career mode there's very little to do in the game, unless you're into fantasy matchups from the Rocky films. Boxers and locations can be unlocked but it'd take completion of every career in the game at least once, though it's nice that there are different options like Apollo Creed or Clubber Lang, rather than just a simple Rocky storyline. Graphically the game is pretty standard; the characters look like who they're meant to represent and damage can be seen on their faces and bodies after a few rounds.
Overall Rocky Legends isn't different enough from the original Rocky release to justify being another game. There's some different things to do, but as many of the original gameplay complaints remain it's almost like an update patch, the likes of which we might see in the modern gaming age. If it's a choice between the first Rocky game and this though, there's cases for choosing eitherway. Personally I'd go for the first due to the woefully easy career mode featured in Rocky Legends.
Rating: 58/100
Grade: D
Game: EA Sports Fight Night Round 2
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: EA Sports
Release Date: 28th February 2005
The most realistic game featured so far in this series of boxing reviews; EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 features many real world boxers from the past and present as well as the option to create your own boxer and work your way up the ranks. There are a few other modes alongside this but there's a disappointing lack of thing to do when compared to some of the other boxing games I've reviewed recently.
The controls are completely different from any of the other games previously featured also. Punching is mostly achieved with the right analog stick with a variety of movements and flicks equating roughly to punches. Two signature punches are mapped to the X and R2 buttons, and it's possible to land illegal blows such as elbows and headbutts with circle and L2, though these will disqualify players if too many are used.
The bars on the bottom left and right represent each boxer's health and stamina. The health bar goes down slowly and most boxers can take a real beating before they're out for the count. Defence is important in the game, and most fights can't be won without at least blocking or avoiding some shots. The worst feature of the game is its knockdowns; when a boxer's health is depleted the game enters a focused mode where they must defend themselves from harsh attack for around 10 seconds, after which time they recover some health. The AI is very tricky with this and will do its best to run away from players and avoid being hit and knocked down.
Most matches in the game end up being a real slog; it took around 200 punches to down an early opponent, possibly due to my use of stamina and constant combinations, but there didn't seem to be much other way to win the fight. Knocking opponents down doesn't seem to dishearten them much and it's common to get 4 or 5 knockdowns in a fight before actually reaching a KO. Players can also choose to tend to their own wounds between rounds with a minigame, or allow the cutman to do it for them.
Graphically the game looks pretty good for the Playstation 2 era; boxers are generally recognisible and this is the only game I've looked at that features a good amount of real world boxers for players to take control of. There's some music in the form of EA Trax, but none really stood out as fitting the game or being particularly enjoyable. The commentary and sound of the game works well with the broadcast format of newer EA Sports games.
Overall EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 isn't the perfect boxing game for the casual player; there's no arcade style silliness and fights are often long and difficult slogs which require just as much defensive skill as offensive power. In terms of the most realistic boxing game though, it does pretty well in showing the nuances of the sport.
Rating: 73/100
Grade: C
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